Friday, July 11, 2014

When young girls in the South heard that lyric about 30 years ago, they cheered and squealed with delight.

It wasn’t for a rock group, but for a couple of handsome guys who changed pro wrestling in a big way.

Wrestling fan Michael Elliot decided to tell the story of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, aka the Rock and Roll Express, through a DVD set called Rock and Roll Will Never Die. Rather than wait until WWE Video get around to it, he made it himself through Kickstarter. It wound up being a three disc set that does a good job of recounting the history of the pair. Here's a trailer from YouTube:

He announced the project five months ago, and was able to get the project done quicker than most Kickstarter-made DVDs. It’s mostly Morton and Gibson recalling how they got together, and their experiences as eight-time world tag team champs. There’s also interviews with nemesis Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton), Tom Pritchard of the Heavenly Bodies, Bill Dundee, referee Tommy Young, Ivan Koloff and Jimmy Valiant. The biggest surprise was George South, a jobber with WTBS wrestling who gave some great insights about the success of the team.

The first disc covers the basic history of the Express. Ricky and Robert had wrestled with other partners before they formed a team in Memphis in 1983. Back then, they were the #2 babyface team behind the Fabulous Ones. They got their big break when Mid-South picked them up along with Cornette and the Midnight Express, and wound up having classic matches.

Both teams joined WTBS and Jim Crockett a year later. Ricky and Robert got there first with the famous match against Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev for the world tag team belts in July 1985, followed by Cornette and his team. Gibson says RnR really got a big pop for beating the supposedly unbeatable Russians, and that’s how they got popular very quickly. He says RnR were so popular that Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes were starting to be a bit jealous. He claims the idea of Flair wrestling Ricky for the World title was an attempt to break up the team. He also says the “Super Sizzling Summer Tour” idea was a way for Crockett to generate more money for the team while the rest of the crew got a vacation in Hawaii.

Gibson also says he and Robert were fired over a money dispute, but when they came back to WTBS, they weren’t as prominent as they used to be. There’s also the big run with Smokey Mountain Wrestling, and the feud with the Heavenly Bodies (Pritchard and Stan Lane, and later Jimmy Del Rey). It doesn't give a lot of details about RnR being in the WWE in 1998, but that's due to the WWE owning the footage, along with WTBS and Mid-South. Still, Elliott is able to use photos and short clips from Memphis, SMW and NWA house shows very well.

Disc two has several stories about the team's career, but also footage from WrestleCade and the “King of the Mountain” tournament from Smoky Mountain, and Gibson challenging Rob Conway for the NWA title. You even seen them in ads for heating and air conditioning

The third disc is a real treat. It has Ricky and Ken Lucas as the Southwest Tag Team Champs in 1982 in a TV match and two NWA tag team title matches with RnR and the Midnight Express with very interesting endings. There’s also the famous “loser leave town” match between RnR and the Heavenly Bodies from SMW. The ref bump and ending has to be seen to be believed. Also, Gibson is in an NWA jr. heavyweight title match from earlier this year against champ Chase Owens. This is also a must-see match.

Rock and Roll Will Never Die is a fairly good effort in honoring one of the most influential tag teams in wrestling history. While tag teams aren’t as popular these days, seeing the RnR in its prime is bound to excite fans of any age. Gibson hopes that eventually they will make the WWE Hall of Fame, along with the Midnight Express. That’s a good idea, but so would WWE Video doing a proper DVD for these teams. Until then, this is the next best thing.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Mystery Science Theater 3000 returns on over-the-air TV, but sadly not everywhere.
I was checking the responses of fans who learned that Retro TV will start carrying the show July 5th, starting with "The Mad Monster". While some were happy they have Retro TV, others were upset that they didn't have it, or used to have it until the local channel that carried it changed to getTV, Me-TV or AntennaTV. They were also upset that some movies that were in the original list were taken out because of rights issues. That includes "Time Chasers" and "Space Mutiny". On the other hand, it meant the addition of "Pod People" and "Secret Agent Super Dragon." One fan suggested "Mad Monster" was too weak an episode to start the return.

I am in the Reno area, where Retro TV is available...along with a semi-local weekend horror TV host named Zomboo. Let's just say his list of movies is similar to those who have been mocked at the Satellite of Love. I'm hoping to get cable...and my own place...before "Super Dragon" because it's one of the episodes I don't have.

Still, it's a great way to introduce movie mocking to a new generation who thinks they have no way to strike back after they unwisely spent 12 bucks on the latest Transformers movie, Amazing Spider Man 2 or Transcendence (nowhere nearly as good as a certain scene from Captain America's second movie). Sure, they may have heard of Rifftrax, but they may wonder how such a thing was invented. Well, thanks to Retro TV, they can find out how some guy and his two robots changed instant movie reviewing forever. Take that, Zomboo.
This will especially please the online-challenged. While these episodes can be seen on Amazon, iTunes or YouTube, not everyone can get used to downloading TV shows or movies. Seeing the show on cable TV, just like the old days of Comedy Central, can be a comfort for some.

What's interesting is that Retro seems to be interested in showing unriffed versions of previous MST3K targets. It's planning to show The Violent Years after MST3K, and Teenage Caveman in some areas. Maybe it's daring us to riff on these movies at home.

Anyway, MST3K airs Saturdays at 8 PM, and Sundays at 5 PM. Check myretrotv.com for more info, including plans to run classic episodes of Doctor Who back in the days when he was a staple on PBS and the early days of SyFy,

Naturally, Retro TV will encourage you to ask your local station to carry the channel. If that doesn't work, you could circulate the tapes...or buy them on DVD....or download them online.
Man, things have changed, haven't they?